Thursday, September 20, 2018

What’s in a name? CMP

At a recent DCMP meeting, my colleague Erica Carlson raised an important point:  Condensed matter physics as a discipline is almost certainly hurt relative to other areas, and in the eye of the public, by having the least interesting, most obscure descriptive name.  Seemingly every other branch of physics has a name that either sounds cool, describes the discipline at a level immediately appreciated by the general public, or both.  Astrophysics is astro-physics, and just sounds badass.  Plasma physics is exciting because, come on, plasma.  Biophysics is clearly the physics relevant to biology.  High energy or particle physics are descriptive and have no shortage of public promotion.  Atomic physics has a certain retro-future vibe.

In contrast, condensed matter, while accurate, really does not conjure any imagery at all for the general public, or sound very interesting.  If the first thing you have to do after saying “condensed matter” is use two or three sentences to explain what that means, then the name has failed in one of its essential missions.

So, what would be better alternatives?  “Quantum matter” sounds cool, but doesn’t really explain much, and leaves out soft CM.  The physics of everything you can touch is interesting, but prosaic.  Suggestions in the comments, please!

15 comments:

Don Monroe said...

How about just "matter physics"?
Includes "soft matter" and "condensed matter," as well as "materials physics."
Also, it's one part of physics that is relevant to things that matter.

Anonymous said...

How about "Emergent States of Matter," inspired by the title of a class taught by Nigel Goldenfeld at U Illinois? It's a bit of a mouthful, but it seems both more interesting and more accurate to me than what we've currently got.

Ted Sanders said...

Materials physics. Physics of materials.

Anonymous said...

Physics of Complex Matter.

Anonymous said...

Totally Matters But Doesn't Get Enough Respect Physics

Anonymous said...

I like Don's suggestion of "Matter Physics." Materials physics doesn't work because materials are often just the substrate for phenomena, but not the end game in and of itself (it also ignores contributions to the theory of materials that come from superfluid He and trapped atom physics).

Anonymous said...

Wouldn't "matter physics" also encompass gas and plasma physics, i.e. non-condensed matter? Personally, I often resort to materials physics (or physics of materials) when I try to explain what I'm doing to relatives. However, that term might be too broad for a more technical audience.

gilroy0 said...

Haptic physics?

Anonymous said...

Whatever be the name, it is extremely exciting. Watch this

https://youtu.be/2lv6Vs12jLc

Anonymous said...

We live in the retraction era

https://www.motherjones.com/food/2018/09/cornell-food-researcher-brian-wansink-13-papers-retracted-how-were-they-published/

DanM said...

In other news, 'tis the season. October 2nd, no later than 11:45am Sweden time.

John Pendry and Dave Smith. My guess.

Anonymous said...

Quantum Corporeal Physics

Anonymous said...

Magnetoelectromechanical Physics

Anonymous said...

Quantum Mechanoelectromagnetic Physics

Anonymous said...

Optoquantathermamechanoelectromagnetic Physics